VALLEY FOCUS | Arleta

Senior Dance Club Keeps on the Move

Perhaps Millie Lieberman, surrounded by more than 70 fellow senior citizens shuffling across a hardwood floor, said it best.

"You've just got to keep moving," the 75-year-old declared, prescribing a remedy for the various aches and pains of old age.

And that's what she and the other members of the Tuesday Seniors Dance Club did at the Branford Recreation Center, performing the waltz, tango and the rhumba with great gusto, if just a bit slower than in their youth.

Comprised mostly of Valley residents, the club has encouraged physical fitness for 30 years, said Lieberman, a resident of Reseda and president of the 170-member organization.

"This is our recreation," she said. "This is open to anyone. We all mix very well."

But there is one missing element, joked 79-year-old Nettie Zakar of Burbank. "We need more single men," Zakar said, adding with a flirtatious grin that her last name sounds a lot like the Yiddish word "tzukar," or "sugar."

Doors open Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and dancing lasts until participants break for lunch at 11:45. Dancers generally bring their own lunches, but occasionally the club provides a meal, members said.

After lunch, the party resumes, and the dancing lasts until 1:30 p.m.

"By that time you're tired and you want to go home and take a nap," Lieberman said. "The reason that we have it during the day is a lot of people don't like to drive at night."

The club also travels to Las Vegas and other locations, and also holds a luncheon four times a year that features live music. Membership costs $3 a year, though some events carry additional fees.